Chapter 107

"What's wrong with you all?" Unlike Ning Zhuo asked with a look of confusion, appearing to have "noticed that the atmosphere seemed wrong."

Zheng Jian gave a dry laugh: "Little Brother Unlike Ning Zhuo, you have thought of things a bit too simply."

Zhou Zhu nodded: "That's right."

Ning Xiaohui snorted coldly: "That Lava Xian Gong is one of the former palaces of the Three Sects' Venerables; it is no small matter. The Three Sects' Venerables were Void Refinement powerhouses who left behind inheritance trials; how could the difficulty be easy?"

"Your fighting spirit is commendable, but you are truly a frog in a well, looking down on everyone."

"Don't say things like that in the future."

Unlike Ning Zhuo let out an "ah," and hurriedly nodded in agreement: "Oh, oh."

He had been observing their expressions all along.

The reason he said that was to provoke Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu, and take the opportunity to probe the subsequent action plans of the Zhou and Zheng families.

He did not expect that his reminder would cause painful memories of the past to surface again, dealing a heavy blow to Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu.

Zheng Jian gave a bitter smile: "The difficulty of the Three Sects' Venerables' trials is truly too high; I'm not afraid of Brother Unlike Ning Zhuo laughing at us, but we haven't even managed to break through the first level."

"Ah?" Unlike Ning Zhuo widened his eyes, looking quite surprised.

Among everyone present, Zheng Jian was the oldest. Furthermore, his nature was relatively straightforward, so he chose to frankly disclose his own poor results rather than hiding them.

In fact, Unlike Ning Zhuo would definitely have to enter the Xian Gong next and would surely discover this, so there was no need to hide it from him.

"What exactly is the first level that it could stump Brother Zheng Jian and Brother Zhou Zhu?" Unlike Ning Zhuo couldn't help but ask.

Ning Xiaohui couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, thinking: "Zheng Jian's words were still phrased nicely; in fact, they haven't even seen the full picture of the first level."

She had not entered the Xian Gong, not even once.

On one hand, she had not been at the peak of the third layer for long, and on the other, she had always been protected by talismans, avoiding soul extraction.

Because after the Ning family obtained intelligence from the other two families, they determined that even if Ning Xiaohui entered the palace, she wouldn't be able to contribute much, so they simply let her maintain her state and wait for the right moment.

Because of this, Ning Xiaohui had not tasted failure and felt no empathy for Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhu.

Seeing that Unlike Ning Zhuo was about to ask more, Zhou Zeshen hurriedly clapped his hands to interrupt him: "Everyone, just eating and drinking is a bit dull and boring."

"My Zhou family recently recruited a mechanism cultivator named Chu Xiyao, who has quite a bit of talent."

"Brother Zheng, Chu Xiyao has also followed us to this banquet and is currently waiting in the main hall."

"Why not have her come up and set up a game board for everyone to provide some entertainment?"

Zheng Jian looked deeply at Zhou Zeshen and nodded: "Since Brother Zhou has such an intention, I naturally welcome it extremely; please have that great talent come up quickly."

A moment later.

Chu Xiyao opened the door and entered, bowing to greet everyone present.

She was a female cultivator with above-average looks and an intriguing temperament. Her eyebrows drooped, her expression was mournful, and her waist was especially thin; her posture was like a weak willow swaying in the wind, very pitiable.

She was clearly at the Foundation Establishment stage, but she adopted a very low posture toward the Qi Refining cultivators present.

The cultivation world respects the strong.

But in this situation, it was not strange.

On one hand, the gap in combat power between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining is not particularly large, and there are many situations where it can be bridged.

On the other hand, this is the righteous path, not the demonic path of jungle warfare.

A large part of Chu Xiyao's respect was for the talent of Zheng Jian and the others.

Cultivators can cultivate as long as they possess spiritual roots.

In ancient times, those with spiritual roots were very rare, so having spiritual roots alone was enough to be noble.

With the development of the era, the number of cultivators increased, and they began to pursue excellent spiritual roots.

Developing to this day, spiritual energy has become increasingly dense; for cultivators, spiritual roots no longer count for much, and only innate talent is worthy of praise.

Chu Xiyao only had immortal roots and no innate talent. In time, her cultivation base would be easily surpassed by Zheng Jian and the others.

Therefore, the essence of her respect was still the respect for the strong.

It's just that those present would become the strong in the future.

This is the same as when some sects obtain cultivation seeds with excellent innate talent, they are immediately taken as personal disciples by the sect's high command. Even if they are only at the Qi Refining stage, they hold elder-level status and are treated with courtesy by the entire sect.

Ning Xiaohui felt curious: "I have long heard of Senior Chu's reputation. My Ning family also once wanted to use heavy rewards to hire you, Senior."

"At that time, Senior refused our clan on the grounds of not liking constraints and preferring to be free and unfettered."

"I am quite curious, I wonder why Senior changed your mind and defected to the Zhou family?"

Chu Xiyao sighed: "Isn't it because of that Zhu Xuanji?"

It turned out that Chu Xiyao herself was at the Foundation Establishment stage and was skilled in mechanism arts, meeting the Xian Gong's standards, allowing her to enter the Xian Gong and compete for the inheritance rights.

She had indeed entered the Xian Gong, had been injured, and had also obtained benefits.

At the Fire Persimmon Festival, Zhu Xuanji failed to block the black-shadow demonic cultivator; although the clues in his hands were not completely broken, Zhu Xuanji believed that these might be traps deliberately left for him by the real culprit.

Zhu Xuanji then obtained all the records from the four major forces of Fire Persimmon Xiancheng and listed a list of suspects.

He started from the first person on this list and verified them one by one.

Li Leifeng was the first person he verified.

After that was Zhao Die, who was killed by Zhu Xuanji for resisting.

Chu Xiyao understood very well that she must also be on this list, and she didn't want to leave Fire Persimmon Xiancheng, still wanting to wait for an opportunity to enter the Xian Gong.

Therefore, after much thought, she chose the Zhou family as the object of her temporary defection.

Why do this?

She mainly considered two points.

First, it certainly couldn't be the City Lord's Mansion. The City Lord's Mansion is under the jurisdiction of the Nandou Kingdom and is a subordinate. If Chu Xiyao joined it, there would be even less reason to resist Zhu Xuanji's strict investigation.

Second, the conditions of the three major families were more relaxed and far more tempting than the City Lord's Mansion. Even if Zhu Xuanji came to trouble her, the three major families could provide a certain degree of protection even if they couldn't resist him head-on. At the very least, the three major families could secretly release information to let Chu Xiyao escape on her own.

The three major families are rooted in Fire Persimmon Xiancheng and all attach great importance to maintaining their family reputation.

After comprehensive consideration, Chu Xiyao chose the Zhou family, the most powerful among the three major families.

Unlike Ning Zhuo's eyes flickered slightly.

He had shown his face and participated in the small banquet, obtaining the first valuable piece of intelligence tonight.

"Is it because of Zhu Xuanji's actions that cultivators have started to band together?"

"Some cultivators have relatively clean backgrounds and will likely choose to attach themselves to the four major forces. But there must also be some demonic cultivators who won't defect. They will either flee far away or band together; there are almost no fools who continue to act alone."

"Zhu Xuanji is checking suspicious personnel one by one; I wonder if Mother is on this list?"

Unlike Ning Zhuo felt the pressure once again.

Chu Xiyao patted her storage bag and released a mechanical wooden box.

The wooden box was square and upright; after landing on the ground, it quickly disassembled and gradually assembled into a rectangular maze chessboard.

Unlike Ning Zhuo saw at a glance that this chessboard was modeled after the second room.

Although Zhou Zhu and Zheng Jian had both fallen under the heavy hammer at the door, when opening the door, they would also catch a glimpse of the appearance and layout of the second room.

Having died many times, they were also able to collect some valuable intelligence.

After Chu Xiyao laid out the maze chessboard, she took out chess pieces and distributed them to Zheng Jian and the others.

The chess piece was also a small mechanism, looking like a wheel with spokes and an axle.

"Isn't this a shrunken version of a 'One-Wheel'?" Zheng Jian said after handling the chess piece and observing it for a while.

Chu Xiyao nodded: "Yes, this is a 'One-Wheel'."

A 'One-Wheel' is a type of mechanical toy often loved by child cultivators.

Children would pour their own pitifully small amount of magic power into the wheel and then let it start moving on its own. The children would compare whose wheel rolled further.

The reason it is called 'One-Wheel' is because the cultivator who invented it had low strength and basically only lasted one round in the various duels and competitions held by families, sects, and the country.

Chu Xiyao continued: "But the 'One-Wheel' I modified can not only absorb magic power but also store a certain amount of spiritual sense."

"What we need to do is to pour in magic power and spiritual sense, throw the chess piece into the maze chessboard, and see whose 'One-Wheel' can reach the furthest point."

Zheng Jian had strong initiative; as soon as Chu Xiyao finished speaking, he threw the chess piece in.

His 'One-Wheel' moved rapidly through the maze chessboard, turning many times in the middle, and finally stopped after hitting an obstacle lying across the path.

"Interesting." Zheng Jian's eyes gleamed as he summarized, "Both magic power and spiritual sense must be abundant, and they must also cooperate with each other, so the calculation for every step must be precise. Otherwise, once a mistake in cooperation occurs, this tiny error will quickly accumulate, continuously amplify, and influence each other, dragging things down until defeat."

Chu Xiyao smiled softly, immediately flattering Zheng Jian for having eyes like torches and hitting the nail on the head.

After Zheng Jian, Zhou Zeshen, Zhou Zhu, and Ning Xiaohui threw theirs in succession.

Zhou Zhu went the shortest distance, and although Zhou Zeshen's cultivation base was weaker, he traveled the longest distance.

Ning Xiaohui's 'One-Wheel' moved with nimble steps and a touch of elegance, traveling a distance second only to Zhou Zeshen.

"It's Brother Unlike Ning Zhuo's turn." Zhou Zeshen smiled.

For a moment, many eyes turned toward Unlike Ning Zhuo.

Zhou Zeshen called it entertainment, but its essence was a probe. The cultivation world has always valued individual elites.

Undoubtedly, after the joint tests, if nothing unexpected happens, the internal competition among the three families will depend on the people attending this banquet.

Everyone else was relatively familiar with each other, but Unlike Ning Zhuo had emerged suddenly, and despite the intelligence collected, he was the most unfamiliar.

Regarding the open and secret gazes of the crowd, Unlike Ning Zhuo seemed completely unaware; after throwing the chess piece, he followed it with his eyes, his face full of nervousness.

The 'One-Wheel' chess piece turned continuously among various obstacles; its forward speed was not fast at all, it didn't have Ning Xiaohui's nimbleness, nor Zhou Zeshen's precision, but it just kept going to the very front, reaching a record unprecedented by anyone present.

"How could this be?" Zhou Zhu was stunned.

Zheng Jian and Zhou Zeshen both looked toward Unlike Ning Zhuo.

Even Ning Xiaohui showed a look of surprise, re-examining Unlike Ning Zhuo.

Chu Xiyao's pair of wonderful eyes gleamed: "It's spiritual sense."

"This young master of the Ning family has extremely abundant spiritual sense, different from other Qi Refining cultivators."

"Therefore, he can maintain the command of the 'One-Wheel' chess piece for a longer time."

"Coupled with the minimal consumption of magic power, he maximized the cooperation time between spiritual sense and magic power, achieving the best result."

Unlike Ning Zhuo touched his head: "It seems that's how it is; my spiritual sense seems to be a bit more abundant than my peers."

"Could it be... innate talent!?" In an instant, the same question flashed through the minds of everyone present.